Fibre sliver spinning device

ABSTRACT

The specification describes a device for spinning fibre sliver comprising means defining a spinning chamber receiving fibres from an opening up means for opening up a fibre sliver being fed to it by a feed means. The feed means have as one element a drawin roller arranged on a holder and as a further element a feed plate. One of these elements of the feed means is resiliently fixed at one end for producing a relative spring force between the feed plate and the draw-in roller for exerting a gripping pressure.

ited States Patent Landwehrkamp Oct. 2, 1973 [541 FIBRE SLIVER SPINNING DEVICE 3,626,681 12/1971 Narusc 57/5895 X 3,360,918 1 1968 D b1b.k '1. 57 58.95 [75} Inventor: Hans Landwehrkamp, Gerolfing, on L Q y Germany [73] Assignee: Schubert & Salzer Maschinenfabrik Primary ExaminerD0na|d Watkins Aktiengesellschaft, lngolstadt, y Beach Germany [22] Filed: July 26, 1971 21 Appl. No: 166,072 [57] ABSTRACT The specification describes a device for spinning fibre [30] Fore'gn Apphcatlon Pnonty Data sliver comprising means defining a spinning chamber July 28. 1970 Germany P 2 37 29 receiving fibres from an opening up means for opening up a fibre sliver being fed to it by a feed means. The [52] [1.5. CI. 57/5835, 19/105 feed means have as one element a draw-in roller ar- [51] D0 g 15/40 ranged on a holder and as a further element a feed [58] Field of Search 57/58.8958.95; plate. One of these elements of the feed means is resil- 1 /1 iently fixed at one end for producing a relative spring force between the feed plate and the draw-in roller for 156] Referen s Cit d exerting a gripping pressure.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,571,859 3/1971 Doublebsky et a1. 57/5895 X 8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDHBT 2 m 3,762,146 saw 2 or 2 BY I WW FIBRE SLIVER SPINNING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 1. Field to which invention relates The present invention relates to fibre sliver spinning apparatus and more especially to such apparatus comprising a feeding and opening device for supplying the fibre sliver to be spun to a spinning chamber.

2. The prior art For opening up the fibre sliver to be spun the opening device provided upstream from the fibre sliver spinning part of the apparatus can comprise rapidly running opening rollers which are provided with needles or teeth. For supplying the fibre sliver to the opening roller use is made either of a pair of gripping rollers or a feeding groove with a draw-in or feed roller, between which the fibre sliver is held back. Feeding grooves have the advantage over pairs of gripping or nip rollers that the gripping zone can be arranged closer to the tip circle of the teeth or needles of the opening roller so that a better retention of the fibres is ensured. Conventionally the feeding groove is in a part which is journalled on a pin and this part is pressed by means of spring force against the draw-in roller. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,360,918 for example.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION It has now been found that the level of the gripping pressure which is exerted on the fibre sliver being passed to the opening roller, and its evenness over the width of the sliver has a substantial influence on the yarn quality. If the gripping pressure is too small the result is unevenness in the yarn, since the opening roller on engaging the fibre sliver can draw the latter between the draw-in roller and the feeding groove and thus opens up sliver lengths of differing size. If the gripping pressure is too high the fibres can be damaged by being crushed or squeezed, something which leadsto losses in the strength of the finished yarn. Also faults can occur in the yarn if the pivoting of the part with the feed groove and consequently the gripping action exerted by it is impaired by insufficient lubrication of the bearing of the grooved part on its pin owing to its virtual movement or owing to dirt (see Cizek: Processing of Man-made Fibres by the Break-Spinning Method. Summary of Lecture, International Conference about Open End Spinning, Prague 1969, page 7/LC). Faults in the yarn, however, also occur in these cases in which part of the sliver is not gripped or nipped or is only gripped to an insufficient extent owing to a one-sided engagement of the feed groove on the draw-in roller. Such a one-sided engagement of the feed groove on the draw-in roller, for example owing to insufficient parallelism of their axes, can only be avoided by high precision in manufacture, something which leads to extra costs. Finally, it is also to be taken into account that the individual types of fibres require varying degrees of gripping pressure. A frequent adjustment of the gripping pressure in the case of feed groove parts which are rotatably journalled and pressed by spring force against the draw-in roller is, however, inconvenient in practice because of the amount of time necessary (see Kir schner: Zur Gleichmaessigkeit von Offen-End-Garnen Einfluss des Bandeinzuges. MELLIAND-TEXTIL- BERICHTE 51 (1970), No. 1, page 24).

One aim of the present invention is to provide a feed device which is of simple construction and needs little servicing but nevertheless provides a gripping action which is always constant or even over the width of the sliver and can be rapidly and accurately adjusted.

The present invention consists in a device for spinning fibre sliver comprising means defining a spinning chamber receiving fibres from an opening up means for opening a fibre sliver being fed to it by a feed means, the feed means having as one element a draw-in roller arranged on a holder and as a further element a feed plate, one of these elements of the feed means being resiliently fixed at one end for producing a relative spring force between the feed plate and the draw-in roller for exerting a gripping pressure. The feed plate can be constructed as a spring which owing to its elasticity always lies against the draw-in roller evenly over its whole breadth and thus brings about a reliable gripping action on the fibre sliver. In order to facilitate assembly work with respect to the feed plate, the latter can be fixed on a bracket connected in a detachable fashion on a frame of the apparatus. Preferably the bracket is provided with a sliver funnel; this provides for a compact construction which requires little space. Since the gripping pressure must be adapted to suit the type of fibre which is to be worked the bracket can be arranged to be adjusted in its position. In order to set the gripping pressure a weighted lever, engaging the bracket, can be provided, with which the gripping pressure can be rapidly and accurately adjusted in a simple manner. The feed plate can be cantilever mounted having its free end adapted to suit the curvature of the draw-in roller so that it partially envelops the draw-in roller and the gripping or nipping zone is arranged closer to the tip circle of the teeth or needles of the opening roller. In order to ensure that the fibres cannot escape to the side as they emerge from the gripping zone, the feed plate can be provided with a recess at its free end.

LIST OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF DRAWINGS Further details of the Invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, FIGS. 1 5 of which represent side views.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show three embodiments of a feed de- .vice in accordance with the invention with a feed plate DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The fibre sliver to be spun is supplied to an opening roller 1 provided with needles or teeth by means of a feed device which comprises an upper flat feed plate 2 and a draw-in roller 3 as can be seen in FIG. 1. The feed plate 2 exerting the gripping or nipping pressure on the fibre sliver is in the form of a cantilever leaf spring having its fixed end mounted by means of screws 40 on a bracket 4. The free end of the feed plate 2 can have a recess a (see FIG. 6), which exerts a compacting action on the fibre sliver leaving the gripping zone and thus ensures that fibres do not escape to the side. The bracket 4 carrying the feed plate 2 is journalled on a pin 41 fixed to the frame of the apparatus and has a guide slot 42. Into this slot there extends the threaded part of the pin 43 which is also fixed to the frame of the apparatus. By means of a nut 430 screwed on the pin 43 the bracket 4 is fixed in position and is thus connected with the frame of the apparatus in a detachable manner. For setting the nipping or gripping pressure the nut 430 is undone and the bracket is swung about the pin 4 The setting can be facilitated by a scale provided on the bracket 4. The degree of angular adjustment to achieve the necessary gripping pressure can be marked on the scale.

FIG. 2 shows a feed plate 21 in the form of a cantilever leaf spring whose free end matches the curvature of the draw-in roller and is preferably also provided with a recess a as shown in FIG. 6. The other end of the feed plate 21 is held in a bracket 5 by a setscrew 50. The bracket includes a sliver funnel 51. The bearing bracket 5 is journalled on a pin 52 attached to the frame of the apparatus and is held against rotation by means of a nut 520.

The setting of the nipping or gripping pressure which is to be exerted by the feed plate 21 on the fibre sliver is carried out by means of a lever 6 to be fitted into a hole in the bracket 5. On the lever 6 a sliding weight 61 is arranged as shown in FIG. 5. By displacement of the weight 61 the leverage of the lever acting on the bracket 5 and the feed plate 21 and after loosening the nut S20, correspondingly urges swinging of the bracket about the pin 52. A scale 60 arranged on the lever 6 makes possible a rapid and precise setting of the strength of the gripping pressure necessary for various different types of fibre. For setting a particular gripping pressure for each of several feed devices of the fibre sliver spinning device, the weight 61 is slid into the desired position on the lever 6 and then fixed in this position by means of the screw 610. Following this the lever 6 is inserted into the hole in the bracket 5 provided for it and the nut 520 is loosened to such an extent that the bracket can swing in response to the weight 61 about the pin 52 and accordingly the feed plate is pressed with the required force against the sliver, that is to say towards the draw-in roller 3. On tightening the nut 520, by means of which the bracket 5 is fixed in position, the setting operation is ended. The setting of the gripping pressure by means of the weighted lever described in naturally also possible in the ease of the bracket shown in FIG. I.

In accordance with a further development of the apparatus in accordance with the invention the feed plate 22 can consist of non-resilient material which is fixed to the free end of a cantilever leaf spring 220 as shown in FIG. 3. In this case as well, however, the leaf spring 220 has one end detachably mounted in a bracket 62 connected with the frame of the apparatus by means of a screw 63 so that the same gripping effect and the same adjustability of the gripping pressure is produced as is the case with the above described embodiment.

Furthermore the supply of the sliver to the opening roller can also be carried out by means ofa feed device in which the complemental feed surface 7 is rigid and the draw-in roller 31 is pressed resiliently against it as shown in FIG. 4. The holder 32 of the draw-in roller 31 is fixed to one end of a leaf spring 33 while the other spring end is held by means of screws 40 on the bracket 4. The bracket 4 is the same as that shown in FIG. 1 so that the setting of the gripping pressure is carried out in the manner described above with reference to this Figure.

What we claim is:

1. Apparatus for processing fibre sliver including an opening roller provided with needlelike projections for opening up a fibre sliver fed to it by feed means, said feed means having as one element a draw-in roller mounted adjacent to said opening roller by a holder and as a further element a feed plate cooperating with said draw-in roller, the improvement comprising a cantilever spring carrying one element of the feed means for producing a spring force between said feed plate and said draw-in roller for exerting a gripping pressure.

2. The apparatus defined in claim 1, in which the feed plate is integral with the cantilever spring.

3. The apparatus defined in claim 2, frame means, and a bracket detachably mounted on said frame means and holding the feed plate.

4. The apparatus defined in claim 3, and a sliver funnel carried by the bracket.

5. The apparatus defined in claim 3, in which the sition of the bracket is adjustable.

6. The apparatus defined in claim 5, and weighted lever means engageable with the bracket for adjusting the gripping pressure.

7. The apparatus defined in claim 6, in which the feed plate has a free end portion which is curved to match the curvature of the draw-in roller.

8. The apparatus defined in claim 7, in which a free end of the feed plate includes a recess.

* k K i 

1. Apparatus for processing fibre sliver including an opening roller provided with needlelike projections for opening up a fibre sliver fed to it by feed means, said feed means having as one element a draw-in roller mounted adjacent to said opening roller by a holder and as a further element a feed plate cooperating with said draw-in roller, the improvement comprising a cantilever spring carrying one element of the feed means for producing a spring force between said feed plate and said draw-in roller for exerting a gripping pressure.
 2. The apparatus defined in claim 1, in which the feed plate is integral with the cantilever spring.
 3. The apparatus defined in claim 2, frame means, and a bracket detachably mounted on said frame means and holding the feed plate.
 4. The apparatus defined in claim 3, and a sliver funnel carried by the bracket.
 5. The apparatus defined in claim 3, in which the position of the bracket is adjustable.
 6. The apparatus defined in claim 5, and weighted lever means engageable with the bracket for adjusting the gripping pressure.
 7. The apparatus defined in claim 6, in which the feed plate has a free end portion which is curved to match the curvature of the draw-in roller.
 8. The apparatus defined in claim 7, in which a free end of the feed plate includes a recess. 